dfurlano
Member
Anyone ever cut to length and weld their own bandsaw blades? If so can you share the process and what tools are needed.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Making Bandsaw Blades
- Thread starter dfurlano
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
- Status
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Mac In Oak Ridge
Member
Boy this brings back memories.
My father, Tink, was a house carpenter and was well qualified to be called Master Carpenter and not because of a Union card.
Tink would make his own bandsaw blades from roll stock. To use Tink's method you first need to assemble the tool kit.
1. Five fire bricks
2. A silver Dime, not the fake Dimes we use today.
3. A box of 20 Mule Team Borax
4. Coffee cup.
5. A blow torch. One of those things that look like the Liberty Bell with a rocket launcher on the top.
6. Some white gas for the blow torch.
Proceed as follows. Cut the band saw stock to length. Grind the two ends square to the axis and polish the sides back for a 1/4" or so. Put three fire bricks in a row on the floor. Put the bandsaw blade across the bricks so the two ends meet. Make sure you don't have it twisted. (Note: Tink was a China Service Marine and when things went South on him he could blister the paint on the walls.) Place the two fire brick you have left on top of the bandsaw blade to hold them down. Align the blade so it is straight and the two ends are touching, the space between the two bricks holding it down is where you are going to do the deed.
Cut the Dime into four pieces for small blades or two peices for large blades. Put a pinch or two of the 20 Mule Team in the coffee cup. Put a drop or two of water in there and sturr it around with your finger. You want a paste, not a liquid. Add water or borax to get it right.
Put some of the borax paste on the place where ther blades meet. Put the Dime over the crack between the blade ends.
Pump the heck out of the blow tourch to build pressure, dribble a little gas in the warming pan under the burner and light it off. When it gets hot enough, open the valve on the tourch and get the thing roaring. Adjust unitl you get a good blue flame and point that at the -Dime, Borax, bandsaw blade assembly and tell your son that if he bumps anything you are going to kick his XXX. Watch the dime, it will get red and then melt. If you did everything correctly the crack between the blade ends will fill with sliver. Remove the heat and wait for the blade to cool down. Grind both sides and the back edge of the blade smooth. Put it on your bandsaw and cut away.
Tink is gone but his lessons live on. For a while longer anyway.
My father, Tink, was a house carpenter and was well qualified to be called Master Carpenter and not because of a Union card.
Tink would make his own bandsaw blades from roll stock. To use Tink's method you first need to assemble the tool kit.
1. Five fire bricks
2. A silver Dime, not the fake Dimes we use today.
3. A box of 20 Mule Team Borax
4. Coffee cup.
5. A blow torch. One of those things that look like the Liberty Bell with a rocket launcher on the top.
6. Some white gas for the blow torch.
Proceed as follows. Cut the band saw stock to length. Grind the two ends square to the axis and polish the sides back for a 1/4" or so. Put three fire bricks in a row on the floor. Put the bandsaw blade across the bricks so the two ends meet. Make sure you don't have it twisted. (Note: Tink was a China Service Marine and when things went South on him he could blister the paint on the walls.) Place the two fire brick you have left on top of the bandsaw blade to hold them down. Align the blade so it is straight and the two ends are touching, the space between the two bricks holding it down is where you are going to do the deed.
Cut the Dime into four pieces for small blades or two peices for large blades. Put a pinch or two of the 20 Mule Team in the coffee cup. Put a drop or two of water in there and sturr it around with your finger. You want a paste, not a liquid. Add water or borax to get it right.
Put some of the borax paste on the place where ther blades meet. Put the Dime over the crack between the blade ends.
Pump the heck out of the blow tourch to build pressure, dribble a little gas in the warming pan under the burner and light it off. When it gets hot enough, open the valve on the tourch and get the thing roaring. Adjust unitl you get a good blue flame and point that at the -Dime, Borax, bandsaw blade assembly and tell your son that if he bumps anything you are going to kick his XXX. Watch the dime, it will get red and then melt. If you did everything correctly the crack between the blade ends will fill with sliver. Remove the heat and wait for the blade to cool down. Grind both sides and the back edge of the blade smooth. Put it on your bandsaw and cut away.
Tink is gone but his lessons live on. For a while longer anyway.
wdcav1952
Activities Manager Emeritus
Mac,
Don't think I will stop buying Timber Wolf blades, but I enjoyed your trip down Memory Lane!
Don't think I will stop buying Timber Wolf blades, but I enjoyed your trip down Memory Lane!
thetalbott4
Member
Hey Mac - Really cool story / tutorial. It's interesting to hear how things used to be done before there was a machine to do everything. Thanks.
dfurlano
Member
Nice story... I thought I would hear from several people that make their own blades.
bobkeyes
Member
Dan,
To make your own blades the process is the same as it was many years ago. The only difference is that you now use silver solder and flux instead of a dime and you use a propane torch. You can also buy a welder for bandsaw blades. I would suppose that Harbor Freight probably has one.
Maybe this helps. Oh, you don't want to quinch the blade joint. If you do it will break almost immediately.
To make your own blades the process is the same as it was many years ago. The only difference is that you now use silver solder and flux instead of a dime and you use a propane torch. You can also buy a welder for bandsaw blades. I would suppose that Harbor Freight probably has one.
Maybe this helps. Oh, you don't want to quinch the blade joint. If you do it will break almost immediately.
Daniel
Member
At one time I had a catalog from a company where you could buy the rolls of blade stock, vises, Silver Solder and even the torch. They also had a pretty good tutorial on how it was done.
pretty expensive start up cost but then you would have blades forever. or a bunch of expensive strapping material depending on your ability to get them soldered. it didn't seem to me to be an difficult thing to do though.
pretty expensive start up cost but then you would have blades forever. or a bunch of expensive strapping material depending on your ability to get them soldered. it didn't seem to me to be an difficult thing to do though.
Daniel
Member
Dan,
take a look at this link.
http://tinyurl.com/ppnr8
take a look at this link.
http://tinyurl.com/ppnr8
jwoodwright
Member
I had a Delta 16" 3-wheeler... That bandsaw had an 80" blade and because of the 3 wheels the tracking was awful and it ate blades...
I bought a roll of stock and tried the home kit. Ended up at a machine shop. On their Huge, Metal cutting Bandsaw they have a blade welder. First they bevel the blade ends, then they weld, then the anneal by running current thru the weld, and polish the weld.
Two Bud six packs got 6 blades welded.
I now have a Jet 14", the Delta is cutting Elk in Montana...
I bought a roll of stock and tried the home kit. Ended up at a machine shop. On their Huge, Metal cutting Bandsaw they have a blade welder. First they bevel the blade ends, then they weld, then the anneal by running current thru the weld, and polish the weld.
Two Bud six packs got 6 blades welded.
I now have a Jet 14", the Delta is cutting Elk in Montana...
Randy_
Member
Unless you use a tremendous number of blades, it probably won't be economical to "roll your own"; but you might want to get on of those SS kits to have for the day when your only sharp blade breaks right in the middle of a project that has to be done tomorrow!!!
- Status